Larry Page's 12-Year Legal Battle Over a $23M Caribbean Island Purchase Hits Another Wall

Larry Page, Google's co-founder and the world's second-richest person, remains mired in a legal dispute over two US Virgin Islands he purchased over a decade ago. Page and his wife Lucinda Southworth bought Hans Lollik and Little Hans Lollik — a pair of Caribbean islands off St. Thomas — for $23 million in 2014. Almost immediately, a developer named James Eckel claimed he already held a contract to buy the same islands, igniting a legal fight that has now stretched nearly 12 years.

The Texas courts weighed in on appeal in 2019, ruling that Eckel was entitled only to financial damages — not the islands themselves. But a parallel battle in US Virgin Islands courts has persisted. Page's entity, USVI Properties, has sued to have Eckel's holding company, Great Hans, remove a document asserting a legal claim to the islands and to have Page's ownership declared free and clear. Last week, an attempt to resolve the USVI case through mediation ended in an impasse, according to a court filing, meaning the dispute will now require formal court action.

The litigation has offered an unusually candid window into Page's notoriously secretive family office, named Koop. Agents working on his behalf deliberately concealed Page's identity from the sellers during the original transaction. A consultant named Gil Simon testified that he was specifically instructed not to reveal the Google co-founder's involvement. Page's lawyers later fought to block his deposition, arguing he had no unique or superior knowledge of the deal. Eckel's side has pushed back hard, arguing no legal ruling should proceed until Page provides sworn recorded testimony.

Meanwhile, the islands themselves have remained largely untouched. Page's legal team said as far back as 2018 that he planned to keep Hans Lollik undeveloped and in its natural state — a claim backed by his family office CEO Wayne Osborne in a 2016 deposition. In one colorful episode, people in camouflage were spotted on the island in 2020 culling invasive goats. Separately, testimony during the case confirmed that Page may have proposed to Southworth on Hans Lollik; the couple married on Richard Branson's neighboring Necker Island in 2007.

The Virgin Islands dispute is just one piece of a sprawling private island portfolio. Using the same USVI Properties holding company, Page paid $32 million in 2018 for Cayo Norte east of Puerto Rico. He also acquired a majority stake in Fiji's Tavarua Island in 2020 — world-famous for its elite surf break — where Page and his family reportedly rode out part of the pandemic. His family office CEO also confirmed during testimony that Page owns Eustatia Island in the British Virgin Islands, which Page previously used as a testing ground for his flying car projects. Page has recently relocated from California to Miami, a move widely seen as a bid to avoid California's proposed billionaire wealth tax.